While on one hand, man is busy exploiting the world’s natural resources to devastation to let his ends meet, on the other, a lot seems to have been left unexplored. In inlands like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands several flying fox species and populations are at particularly high risk of extinction.
But, in a recent discovery conservationists are sure to be elated with a colorful new breed of flying fox being spotted on the Philippine island of Mindoro (a treasure trove for flora and fauna)!
Interestingly, — named Mindoro Fruitbat — it has orange fur and three white stripes on its face. Its discovery was confirmed last year by a team from the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the University of Kansas.
Informing of the discovery, zoologist Jake Esselstyn said
A local resident of Sablayan (town) first described the flying fox in great detail to us, but we were unconvinced until the species showed up in our nets.
Perhaps unique to the Philippines, the discovery of the new flying fox reveals the fact that not much is known about Philippine biodiversity and soon may become a converging point of wildlife research.
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